Genetic variability and character association analyses among yield and yield contributing traits in oats (Avena sativa L.)

Twenty five oat (Avena sativa L.) strains were evaluated morphologically for days to flowering, days to maturity, fresh green weight per plant (g), total number of tillers per plant, plant height (cm), leaf length (cm), leaf width (cm) leaves per plant, nodes per plant, biological yield per plant (g) and seed yield per plant (g) to evaluate the genetic variance, heritability and genetic advance and character association for each character in the materials. Analysis of variance revealed significant variation exists among the stains for all characters studied. The estimation of genotypic coefficient of variation and phenotypic coefficient of variation were high for total number of tillers per plant, 100-seed weight, fresh green weight, and seed yield per plant. High heritability along with high genetic advance as percent of mean were observed for fresh green weight per plant, total number of number tillers per plant and seed yield per plant. Seed yield per plant exhibited significant positive association with leaf length, days to maturity and plant height. It was concluded that leaf length, days to maturity and plant height are major yield contributing characters in selecting high yielding oats stains. This investigation exhibited that there exists a wide range of genetic variability among oats strains for most of the characters which would be useful for direct selection of high yielding strains.